Sri Lankan Dhal Curry with Green Chilli-Parippu Curry

Parippu curry or dhal curry is one of the popular ways of cooking red lentils in Sri Lanka. Sometimes we cook it as a plain curry or even we cook parippu (dhal) mixed with drumstick leaves or spinach. If you check Sri Lankan recipes and cooking styles, there are many ways to cook dhal as a curry. Once I shared a recipe for dhal dry curry which we use red chili powder to cook dhal. This is a dry dhal curry and the appearance is bit dark because of red chili powder. Today dhal recipe is not much spicy and it looks lighter in appearance if you compare with the dry dhal curry which I used red chilli. This is how we change the flavor and appearance of most of Sri Lankan curry recipes. Simply, change one ingredient, whole taste and appearance will change. And even add some thick coconut milk or reduce coconut milk. You will have different tastes on different days using the same main ingredients.

Sri Lankan Dhal Curry (mild spicy)

So, here is another way of cooking dhal which gives you a mild spicy curry. This dhal curry (parippu curry) well goes with plain rice or any type of bread and roti. Even you can try this with Sri Lankan Indi Appa. Try this and let me know how it comes for you.

Recipe: Sri Lankan Dhal Curry with Green Chilli-Parippu Curry

Ingredients: (for 3-4 servings)

1 cup dhal (masoor dhal/parippu)
½ medium sized onion sliced
4-5 green chili sliced
1 sprig curry leaves
1inch piece pandan leaf/(rampa)
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp raw curry powder
1 tsp fenugreek seeds
Piece of cinnamon
Salt to taste
1/2 cup thick coconut milk
1/2 cup thin coconut milk

Method

Wash dhal properly few times and place in a cooking pot.
Add all the spices mentioned under ingredients list together with, onion, chilli,rampa & curry leaves.
Mix all & add thin coconut milk. Cover & cook in medium flame till dhal is cooked well.
Once dhal is cooked add thick coconut milk. Mix well.
Adjust salt to taste.
Simmer for another 1 minute till the curry becomes thick enough as you want.
It is ready to serve with rice or bread.

Sri Lankan Dhal Curry

How do you cook dhal?Do you like to cook dhal frequently?Please share your thoughts.